from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

Etymologies

delicate +‎ -ly (Wiktionary)

Examples

I had only to say, that -- oh! that I trust implicitly to your brother's honour; but, besides this, it will not be amiss for you to hint, as you know you can delicately -- _delicately_, you understand -- that it is for his interest to leave me to manage every thing.

Peter Morgan's script for Hereafter, which is, as the title delicately implies, about life after death, Clint knew he wanted to make the movie as director, for, save the late excursion of Gran Torino, our hero has now retreated behind the camera.